Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

He did everything to detract from the question at hand, which is whether the House and the country have confidence in the Minister, Deputy Shatter.

What has been clearly outlined by many of the speakers who have spoken tonight is how he mishandled the whistleblowers and GSOC issues and how he was joined at the hip with the Garda Commissioner in terms of how he responded to those issues and how he treated the whistleblowers. Indeed, we also heard how there were efforts within the Department or elsewhere to prevent the Garda Commissioner from going back on his comments to the committee. Then something of which the Government, in the form of the Attorney General, was aware since November became such a big issue overnight that it justified an immediate commission of inquiry. We also see that it was used to get rid of the Garda Commissioner.

At the same time the Minister came to the House to apologise for the way he handled the whistleblower issue, after having refused either to correct the record of the House when he said they did not co-operate or to apologise to them for weeks in advance of that. If this was such a significant issue that justified the establishment of a commission of inquiry as soon as the Taoiseach became aware of it, why was the Taoiseach or the Minister not asking similar questions of the Attorney General who was aware of this issue since last November?

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